Kenneth R. Bowling


Kenneth R. Bowling is coeditor of The Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, 1789–1791, and the author of The Creation of Washington, D.C.: The Idea and Location of the American Capital.


Editor of…

Cover of Inventing Congress

Inventing Congress

Origins and Establishment of the First Federal Congress

On March 4, 1789, New York City's church bells pealed, cannons fired, and flags snapped in the wind to celebrate the date set for the opening of the First Federal Congress. In many ways the establishment of Congress marked the culmination of the American Revolution as the ship of state was launched from the foundation of the legislative system outlined in Article I of the Constitution.…


Cover of Neither Separate Nor Equal

Neither Separate Nor Equal

Congress in the 1790s

Scholars today take for granted the existence of a "wall of separation" dividing the three branches of the federal government. Neither Separate nor Equal: Congress in the 1790s demonstrates that such lines of separation among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, however, were neither so clearly delineated nor observed in the first decade of the federal government's history.…


Cover of The House and Senate in the 1790s

The House and Senate in the 1790s

Petitioning, Lobbying, and Institutional Development

Amid the turbulent swirl of foreign intrigue, external and internal threats to the young nation’s existence, and the domestic partisan wrangling of the 1790s, the United States Congress solidified its role as the national legislature.…


Cover of Establishing Congress

Establishing CongressOn Sale

The Removal to Washington, D.C., and the Election of 1800

Establishing Congress: The Removal to Washington, D.C., and the Election of 1800 focuses on the end of the 1790s, when, in rapid succession, George Washington died, the federal government moved to Washington, D.…

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